[alexfoo]

I agree with the bit about the having to enter a full postcode on some sites, I often use one nearby or, if they make me select a specific address for no valid reason I make sure I use a random address nearby. Apologies to some of my neighbours who might be bombarded with junk mail for services I’ve once been half interested in.

A full postcode is often much less than a single street.

Picking something at random stick “SW15 6DZ” into Google maps and you’ll see it only covers 6 buildings (most are individual houses but some are split into flats). According to the Royal Mail address finder site there are only 12 unique delivery addresses that share that postcode. The Western half of that road has 12 or so full postcodes for only 100 houses.

A full postcode and one other bit of information can often be enough to uniquely identify someone.

If a US 5 digit zipcode is roughly equivalent to the “general area” part of a UK postcode (94107 <=> SW15) then the full UK postcode is like the 9 digit US Zip+4 format where the extra 4 digits narrow location down to a block, part of a block or even a specific building.

[marcus_holmes]

A friend of mine who lived in a tent in a park got his own postcode. True story.

Details: election time. He went to the election folks and asked for his election papers. They said "sure, where do you live?" he said "the Bender, Eastville Park, Bristol", they said "that's not a valid address", he said "that's where I live, so that's where I'd like my registration to be, please". There was some back and forth. They caved, and duly entered his address on the electoral roll as such. Then he went to the Post Office and said "this is my address, as entered on the electoral roll, can I have my postcode please?". The Post Office kinda had no option, since this was now his official address. So they gave him a postcode and the postie had to walk through the park to drop off his mail.

[9JollyOtter]

The post office will attempt to deliver if you put an address on it.

There is guy living off grid in I believe Dorset on YouTube called "Maximus Ironthumper". The post office told him to try sending himself letters, eventually they started turning up. Then that became the address.

He has a whole series of videos about how he kinda managed to setup his off grid living situation, there is everything from how to avoid planning permission, to how he setup his solar power.

[JBlue42]

>The post office will attempt to deliver if you put an address on it.

I still find it fascinating that we developed this human system, with expectations that are still in play, even if some aspects become less and less relevant, it's still an important tool beyond being dependent on technology. Same with lending libraries. A few things we should cherish that have real ethics in this lets-monetize-everything world.

[account42]

Yeah it's hard to see either being created today if they didn't exist already. A good thing to remember when something gets called impossible.

[GJim]

I believe similar has happened, whereby a seller of the Big Issue (a magazine sold by the homeless to raise money) had a postcode issued to a bench where they could pick up deliveries of the magazine.

[sjw987]

That's a nice way to give the postie a pleasant walk on a lovely summer day.

[decimalenough]

This is Britain we're talking about, it'll be pissing down rain/sleet on the other 364 days.

[gerdesj]

"A full postcode is often much less than a single street."

My business has its own unique postcode and so does next door! Between us we cover roughly three acres. Our place is one building with parking and a fair bit of greenery.

[NickPollard]

There is apparently a suite to rent in the Rosewood Hotel in London (near Holborn) which has it's own postcode (WC1V 7EN).

To be fair it's a 6-bedroom wing, but still a fun fact.

[shermantanktop]

My postcode in Surrey had about 7 houses according to the postie.

[comprev]

The concept of a postcode was originally due to the sack weight a postie could deliver before returning to the van.

Each postcode would then have an optimum delivery route often devised by the postie's themselves.

[terinjokes]

> the 9 digit US Zip+4 format where the extra 4 digits narrow location down to a block, part of a block or even a specific building.

A US Zip+4 usually identifies a specific delivery point. In some places this can mean it can even identify specific units within a building.

[neves]

Mail from a guy that wants to preserve pubs wouldn't be junk.

[gambiting]

How is that different from a mail from a local church asking me to donate, or a local bingo club opening a new location - it's all junk. If I didn't ask for it to be sent to my address, it's all junk.

[alexfoo]

One person's junk is another person's fuel for heating.

Throughout the year a friend of mine would collect any junk mail, but mostly many copies of the free daily newspapers (Metro, Evening Standard, etc) that litter the trains/underground in the evenings, soak them with water than use a briquette maker to press the paper into blocks. Once dried they provide an ample supply of fuel to heat his home for the 6-10 months of the year (depending on how poorly your home is insulated) that heating is required in the UK.

He definitely didn't have a "No junk mail" sticker on his letterbox.

[conorcleary]

Pubs generate way more tax revenue than churches.

[jon-wood]

And I'm sure HSBC generate even more tax revenue, that doesn't mean that if they send me unsolicited mail about bank accounts it isn't junk.

[ljm]

Any communication received without explicit consent, after providing details, is junk, and would fall under GDPR as using that info for a different purpose than what was described.

[philo23]

Yep, locally where I am there’s one postcode for all the houses on one side of the street (all the even numbered houses) and another for the opposite side (all the odd numbers.)

Presumably it helps a lot with validating the address is correct, kinda like a checksum, and also probably helps with how deliveries are organised by the local office before the postie is sent out with them all.